Louis Wain

Louis Wain (1860-1939) was an English artist best known for his drawings, which consistently featured anthropomorphised large-eyed cats and kittens. See some examples of his work here.

Jacaranda Days in the Valley

About the time the last few oranges drop from their trees in early June, Jacarandas bloom in an explosion of purple along our street in the San Fernando Valley.

Elevator to the Underworld

An underground "coffin lift or 'catafalque'," from London's West Norwood cemetery catacombs. "The blocked aperture in the ceiling led to the now demolished Episcopal Chapel above. The stairs on the right (now blocked) also led up to the chapel." More.

The Valley in Oil

For sale on eBay:
20 X 24 inches Oil on canvas by Sunday Painter, William O. Lambert. Think Conrad Buff or Dale Nichols without the rigor...Thiebaud minus genius...Hopper without pathos or painterly expertise...think San Fernando Valley where, in the immortal words of Neal Diamond.."Sun shines most the time...and the feelin' is lay back...".

Still...there's something here. It's got soul and honest intent. A certain guileless modernity, if such a thing existed and if you consider the time and place....

1942...THE VALLEY was not, then, what it is today and there's something to be said for an honest visual document of that time. Think of it: With the world at War, not a shameful carte blanche red herring or a grab for oil money but a war for the soul of the world, a man sets up his easel overlooking his piece of God's Green Earth in California and commits it to memory for us to see...after 65 years. And if someone buys it on Ebay and enjoys it and protects it, it will reach a hundred years and maybe two and come to make sense in a way that we can't possibly comprehend in a 2007 that will someday be an impossibly distant past.

It's an honest picture. I'll start it at 1 honest dollar. William O. Lambert...Sunday painter...painter on and of Sundays in 1942.

Documenting Stonehenge

They got the date wrong by some 3,000 years, but the oldest detailed drawing of Stonehenge, apparently based on first hand observation, has turned up in a 15th century manuscript. More.

Amazing photos of tiger underwater

From Spluch.

Art from inside the institution

A Mexican man who spent nearly half of his life in American mental hospitals is now being hailed as one of the giants of 20th century art.

Martin Ramirez, who was diagnosed as a catatonic schizophrenic after he immigrated to the United States in 1925, produced more than 300 mesmerizing drawings during his time in hospital wards. More.

KIDD Studios, Los Angeles

The D.J. at work on her newest album . . .

One of the greatest songs. Ever.

I would love to be able to play like this. Chuck Berry just tears into his guitar playing Johnny B. Goode. Zowza! (audio only, no video)

Live happily ever after in Storybook Village

San Fernando Valley circa 1956: Once upon a time there was a builder with a dream. He wanted to give folks precisely the home they'd always hoped to own. So he had famous architects, Palmer & Krisel, A.I.A. combine everything that is wonderful and new in modern home design . . . added every most wanted feature . . . and priced these homes so that every Prince Charming could afford one for his Princess Fair! He called these homes "Storybook Village" because here, indeed, was a place where dreams come true!

NYC Subway Map redesign

More here.

Let there be light

When you go to a park, the whole point is to sit on the grass and bask in the lovely sunshine, right? Unless you're in New York -- where the enormous buildings impose a canyonlike gloom over many areas. So it was with the designers of Teardrop Park South, down in the Battery Park area of New York: They began extending their park at the same time as a new building was being erected, and realized they were about to face a huge problem. When both projects were completed, the building would permanently shield the park from the sun. What to do?

When I first heard the story of the Italian Alpine village that wanted to install a giant mirror I thought it might be a joke. But it took only one call to the Mayor of Viganella, Pierfranco Midali, to realise he was deadly serious. So I decided to go and investigate. Continue.

Specs

Eyeglasses were invented in northern Italy in the late 13th century.^[1] The earliest pictorial evidence for the use of eyeglasses provides Tomaso da Modena's 1352 portrait of the cardinal Hugh de Provence reading in a scriptorium.

The Bayeux Tapestry . . . animated

The Bayeux Tapestry (French: Tapisserie de Bayeux) is a 50 cm by 70 m (20 in by 230 ft) long embroidered cloth which depicts the events leading up to, as well as, the Norman invasion of England in 1066. The Tapestry is annotated in Latin. It is presently exhibited in a special museum in Bayeux, Normandy, France.